Meet some of the outstanding authors who call the Sunshine State home.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Ken Pelham - Pushing the Literary Envelope

Ken Pelham likes to push the envelope. This Maitland writer's stories test the limits of his readers' imaginations while taking them on unforgettable adventures that will keep them hooked to the last page. This is no small feat for a guy who spends his days as a landscape architect.

Born in Fort Myers, Pelham grew up in the small town of
Immokalee. He was always an avid reader and started writing in middle school
where he created comics for his friends. In high school, he moved on to short
stories and a play. As much as he enjoyed writing, economic considerations led
him to channel his creative talents in a different direction, so he pursued a
degree in landscape architecture at the University of Florida.

He started writing short stories and nonfiction articles
after he graduated from college. Several of his stories were published in
magazines, so he decided to try his hand at a novel. After two failed attempts,
he set to work on a suspense/thriller titled Place of Fear. It introduced his signature character, Dr. Carson
Grant, a protagonist Pelham describes as “prickly and mysterious, a little
Indiana Jones, a little serious archaeologist.” Even though he was unable to
place the book with a publisher, Pelham went on to write a sequel, Brigands Key, set on a quirky little
island on Florida’s west coast. Writing Brigands
Key was a multi-year process. Pelham wrote seven drafts before he finally submitted it to publishers.

The effort paid off. In 2012 Brigands Key was picked up by Five Star Publishing and won first
place in the prestigious Royal Palm Literary Awards. Praised as “A perfect
storm of menace…” by Florida Weekly,
the story begins when Carson Grant discovers a body while diving near a subterranean
freshwater stream in the Gulf. He is soon facing off against the local police,
a mysterious plague, a Category 5 hurricane, and a crazed murderer. The success
of Brigands Key led to the
publication of Place of Fear, which
earned Pelham his second Royal Palm award. Pelham’s affection for his fictional
Brigands Key led him to use it as the setting for several short stories
included in two collections: Treacherous Bastards: Stories of Suspense,
Deceit, and Skullduggery and Tales of Old Brigands Key. Pelham has also penned a non-fiction
book, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: A
Writer’s Guide to Mastering Viewpoint, which won a Royal Palm Award for
“Published Book of the Year.”

Pelham’s latest project, The
Prometheus Saga, is a unique science fiction anthology reminiscent of the
classic short story collections by Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling and Richard
Matheson. “I was investigating how to use the new technology in publishing in
an anthology,” he says. He conferred with friend and fellow writer Charles A.
Cornell, and they came up with the idea of having a select group of writers
create stories that shared a common premise. This was the birth of the Alvarium
Experiment, a consortium of writers working “independently together” toward a
single goal. “Alvarium” (Latin for
“beehive”) reflects the philosophy of writers working as a colony. “We decided
to create a theme and a character that had no bounds but made sense,” he says.
The stories are tied together by the enigmatic Prometheus, a humanoid alien probe
sent to observe the human race throughout its history. Created by an alien
intelligence, Prometheus sometimes interacts with mankind, but it is left up to
the reader to decide if it is malevolent or benevolent.

The Alvarium Experiment followed up with a second anthology,
Return to Earth, which explores
scenarios in which the first visitors to our planet just happen to be us.
Pelham's contribution to that project, "Under the Whelming Tide," is
a semifinalist in the 2017 Royal Palm Literary Awards. And in July of this year
a third anthology, The Masters
Reimagined, will be released, in which classic works of literature will be
visited with a slant towards speculative fiction.

Pelham's short story, "The Queen Beneath the
Earth," appeared in Darkwater Syndicate's gripping horror anthology, Shadows and Teeth, Volume 2, in April, 2017.

Staying busy, Pelham's column appears monthly on the FWA
website. He's also hard at work on a nonfiction book about the evolution of
genre fiction, and on the third book in his Carson Grant series, Grand Ruin, which involves the
mysterious death of a high school football star and the secret of an abandoned
castle. He feels that what makes his novels unique is that they push the limits
of believability. “I like keeping a lot of balls in the air at once and
multiple characters with competing agendas,” he says. “I hope my books give
readers an enjoyable few hours of reading and leave them with something to
think about.”

JACQUELINE

Based on a true story, "Jacqueline" is a tale of family, faith, unusual friendships, and the resiliency of the human spirit set against the backdrop of occupied Rennes in 1944. With the drama of fiction and the authenticity of personal history, "Jacqueline" is both a story about family and a family's story.

PROJECT JUNE BUG

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About Me

I'm currently a columnist for The Island Reporter, a publication serving the South Gulf Beaches in St. Petersburg, Florida. My Florida Authors series features articles based on exclusive interviews with some of the state’s best writers. My “Pride & Joy” column
profiles individuals who give back to their communities through volunteerism.
I'm also the author of two novels."Project June Bug" is the story of a young teacher’s efforts to help a student with ADHD. It has received 12 awards, including Premier Book Awards “2009 Book of the Year.” My latest novel, "Jacqueline,"(published by Anaiah Press) is a middle grade historical based on an experience my dad, a WWII veteran, had while stationed in France shortly after D-day. Four of my stories have appeared in "Chicken Soup for the Soul" editions.
I live on Treasure Island (yes, it's as beautiful as it sounds), with my husband and two rather noisy macaws. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, walking on the beach, and visiting family in New Jersey, where I'm the proud "Grammy" of six beautiful grandchildren (with the pictures to prove it!)